Take My Hand
by Smapdi
Summary: One shot, set after 2x14 The Desert. Mild spoiler if you have not seen the preview clip. This is my interpretation of the before and after of that scene, much angst, mild smut.


**Another entry in the M Project at AO3. Thanks to alittlenutjob for coming up with the concept!**

"Oh, god. Oh, no. Poor Cliff."

Danny turned his head sharply to look at Mindy. She had picked up her phone as soon as they returned to their seats and was now staring blankly at it, one hand over her mouth.

"His grandmother died." She said, not looking at him. These were the first words they had spoken since before he had kissed her, before she kissed him back. He felt a sharp twist in his gut and he exhaled, noisily, watching her face. Watching her not face him.

She didn't tell him the entirety of the text.

_I got your email. It was beautiful, baby. I wanted to meet you at the airport and kiss you till you couldn't breathe, but I have to go be with my family. My dad just called. My grandma died. Call me when you land. I love you._

When she felt his gaze leave her, she glanced at Danny, who was now staring at his hands. The hands that had tenderly caressed her face, and hungrily stroked her body, were clasped and still in his lap.

He finally spoke, his voice low so the sleeping passengers wouldn't awaken.

"That's a shame. You have to go to him. He's your boyfriend." His voice cracked, just a little, on the last word.

"What are you?" Mindy asked quietly.

He looked at her then, his eyes reflecting a hurt she wouldn't have thought possible, and shook his head. "A fool."

"Danny." She whispered, laying her hand on his clasped ones. "No." She looked at his mouth, remembering how it felt on hers, and a surge of heat flashed through her. Their eyes met again and she reflexively licked her lips.

"Just give me a little time to process everything. I need to talk to Cliff."

Danny nodded, not really sure what it was he was agreeing with, but they were past the point of no return since he stepped foot in that galley, so what would be the harm in going further down the rabbit hole?

Mindy left him at the baggage counter and took a cab. He didn't hear from her till the next day at work, where he tried to act like everything was normal, but he felt like everyone could see that it wasn't. She came in late and her eyes were puffy, and he felt that clenching in his stomach again, because he couldn't go to her and hold her and tell her everything was alright. It wasn't.

"Um, I'm sure some of you have heard..." She announced to no one in particular. "Cliff has had a family tragedy, and has asked if anyone would want to pay their respects to his grandmother, the services will be tomorrow at noon. Betsy, if you can reschedule my appointments for the next few days, that would really help."

And then she was gone.

Danny seemed to be in a trance, sleepwalking for the next 24 hours, unable to focus on anything, even as he tried to drive thoughts of her out of his brain. He just kept visiting dark places, seeing her in his mind, with Cliff, and it was killing him. He found himself in a cab with Morgan heading to the church to bury a woman he had never met and he felt like it was something inside him that was dead.

"Hi, Danny. Thank you for coming." She said when they met up in front if the church. She only briefly met his eyes, dipping her head and and looking away, as Morgan babbled something in the background. They all headed for the entrance, where Cliff stood, looking grim and tired. He greeted them, telling Mindy he was glad she was there. She steadfastly avoided looking at Danny, who couldn't tear his eyes away from her, desperate to see how she would react.

"I am, too." She replied and took his hand to enter the church. Danny gritted his teeth. She made her choice. He turned to Morgan, who was keening and bent at the waist, and helped him inside.

The ceremony was a serene, lovely honor to a woman who was obviously beloved by many. Danny just stared a few rows up at the couple, seeing the looks of compassion she gave to Cliff, her hand around his shoulders. It burned like fire in his gut. At one point, Mindy looked back and locked eyes with him. Her expression was bewildering to him, but it planted a tiny seed of hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance.

This made him irrationally angry.

After the speakers were finished and a priest had said some final words, the attendees dispersed from the funeral, no doubt to a reception with family and food and tears, where Danny had no business. He couldn't just leave without know what the hell was going on, so he excused himself from Morgan and went to find Mindy. She was off to the side, standing near Cliff's family but looking uncomfortable, and Danny grabbed her arm. She jumped like she had been electrocuted.

"I need to talk to you." Danny whispered, bringing his lips much closer to her ear than he had intended, and she shivered. She looked at him almost in panic, but he was on a mission and pulled her away, finding a room to the side that was empty and quiet.

"Danny, now's not the time." She begged, desperation in her voice. He turned around to face her.

"It's now or never, Mindy." He let go of her arm and crossed his across his chest, waiting, but she didn't speak. She just looked at him and swallowed hard.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Have you finished... 'processing' this yet?" His words came out like a growl. He didn't know why he was so mad, but he felt like he was on the edge of breaking.

"Danny, I don't know what to tell you. It's been a really bad couple of days."

For him, too. He couldn't stand it anymore. "Just tell me the truth, Mindy. Are you back with Cliff, or are we..." He couldn't finish the sentence, couldn't even finish the thought. What were they? He wasn't even sure how he felt, just that madness had taken over, and all he wanted was her.

Mindy looked away, pained. "It's not that simple."

"It is that simple, Mindy. What do you want? I'm not just going to sit here while you figure it out. Are you just holding me to the side while you wait to see if he forgives you when you finally tell him you kissed me?" He was grasping at straws, but her expression told him he touched on something.

"You kissed me!" Mindy hissed, glaring, trying to find something to pin her indignation on.

"Don't kid yourself, sweetheart. You were right there with me." He glared at her right back, his anger temporarily shadowing the hurt that is close enough to the surface to burst through him.

"Danny, he is grieving. I can't kick him when he's down. That would be cruel."

"Well, I'm sure you've been helping him cope with a few consolation fucks." He spat the words at her and Mindy recoiled, eyes and mouth wide with shock.

"How dare you. You have no right to speak to me like that." She sounded deflated, and he instantly regretted his attempt to hurt her, which didn't ease his pain, only worsened it.

"You're right. I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He suddenly felt exhausted. "I'm going to go." He swept past her, head down, and she reached for his arm.

"Danny." Her voice demanded he turn back to look at her. "I... I haven't."

He stared at her for a moment, feeling that tiny seed of hope sprout. She blinked at him, then her focus moved to the door, where Cliff was walking in to find her.

"Hey, there you are. Everything okay?"

She released Danny's arm, and to his credit, he walked up to Cliff and shook his hand as he muttered a word of sympathy. Then he went home.

He spent the rest of the day obsessively trying to occupy his mind and failing. He tried to read a book he had read many times before, but his eyes just scanned the words while his brain actively avoided absorbing them. He took a walk and tried to make it a run but ended up just trudging home. Even sleep was impossible for a while, but eventually, it gave him some peace.

He thought he heard a muffled buzzing, then a thumping, but wasn't sure in his sleep haze if it was real, so he stayed in bed. Then a beep by his head pulled him from his slumber and he fumbled for his phone to read the text.

_Open your door._

He stared at it for thirty seconds before it made sense, and then with a woosh he was wide awake and striding towards his front door. He flung it open and Mindy was standing there, mascara streaks on her face and a bruise on her cheek.

Blind rage, accented by a touch of fear, shot through him and he grabbed her arms.

"Did he hit you? I'll fucking tear him apart." He growled.

"No, God, Danny, I tripped. Really, there's no domestic violence going on, I'm just clumsy."

The relief that washed over him nearly knocked him over and he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and crushing her head to his chest. She remained there stiffly for a moment before wriggling to get free. "Danny, I can't breathe."

He released her instantly, now cold with the realization she might not have come here for the reason he thought, and he took two steps back and looked at her. She took a deep breath and closed the door behind her.

"Mindy?" He said in a whisper, the question in his eyes obvious.

She nervously nodded her head, eyes downcast, and then she looked back into his eyes.

"It's you, Danny. It's always been you."

He exhaled sharply, and even though he was pretty sure those words were from one of her romance movies and she just always wanted to say them, he didn't care. He moved toward her at the same time she reached for him, and then he kissed her like his life depended on it.

Mindy's hands moved swiftly to his back. She pulled up his shirt and let her fingers skate across his skin, while Danny grasped her hips and pulled her tight against him. He still had a hazy feeling, like maybe it was all a dream, until he felt Mindy's warm palm centered on him through his thin shorts.

Suddenly everything was in sharp focus and he pulled his mouth from hers and looked at her. She was glassy eyed, her lips reddened and swollen, and he searched her eyes for permission. She bit her lower lip and his stomach did somersaults as she stepped back and looked at the bedroom, then turned to him and slipped her tiny hand in his.

There was no talking, no need to clarify what this was, there was only synchronicity. He slowly undid the buttons on her blouse, his fingers trembling, as they kissed slowly, tongues in a lazy duel. She shrugged off the garment and unsnapped her bra, slipping it off to bravely reveal herself to him.

He gazed in wonderment before he pulled off his shirt so he could feel her skin against his. His mouth traveled the distance from lips to throat to clavicle to her marvelous breasts, and the moan she released when his lips closed over her nipple nearly made him come apart.

She was reaching for him again, stroking his cock through the fabric before snaking her hand inside to wrap her fingers around him. His hips bucked against her hand and he divested himself of his shorts before reaching for her waistband and trying valiantly to find somewhere to release her skirt. She had to let him go to undo it herself and the loss of sensation gave him a moment to step back and prepare. By the time she had slipped her skirt and panties off, he had thrown back the bed sheets and lifted her onto the mattress.

She was like a cat in heat, mewling and rubbing against him, undulating on the bed, but he just wanted to look at her for a moment, emblazon this vision on his brain. That didn't last long. Mindy slid her arms around his neck and pulled him down, wrapping a leg over his hips and reaching for his cock. Instinct took over and he was burying himself inside her wet heat, their bodies moving fluidly, mouths connected as they breathed each other in.

She reached her climax first, arms so tight around his neck he almost passed out, shuddering and clenching around him. He followed with a bellow, coming deep inside her, resting between her legs for a moment as they floated back to earth. She slid out from underneath him and twisted her body back towards him, not wanting to lose contact.

It took several minutes for them to say anything to each other, and then they both started at once.

"Did you tell him?" Danny had rolled over so they were facing and his hand was resting on her waist.

"Not about us. I just said I couldn't be with him. I don't think it was a surprise."

Danny frowned. "Why not?"

Mindy sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "He told me he loved me by text. Who does that, Danny? I mean, for the first time?" Danny's hand tensed on her waist. "I thought I had to see, to know if he meant it, or if he was just saying it because he was hurting and lonely."

She turned back to look in Danny's eyes. He was guarded, waiting.

"But when I got there, I realized, it didn't matter. It didn't matter what he felt, because I... I didn't feel it about him. I didn't want him anymore. He looked at me, and... I just think he could tell. But I had to be there for him, and then you were such a dick today, and I didn't know what the hell I was getting myself into." Her eyes were welling with tears and he felt like the biggest asshole alive.

"I'm so sorry, Min." He choked.

"I know. I didn't mean to hurt you. It was like no matter what I did, someone would get hurt, and you both were."

Danny took her hands in his and kissed them. "I'll get over it."

She smiled at him and intertwined her fingers in his. "Thank you." She whispered.

He was mystified. "For what?"

"For finally letting me in."

"I was asleep, Min. I didn't hardly hear the door."

Her smile widened as she snuggled into him and kissed him softly.

"Not in your house, dummy." She splayed her hand across his chest and felt his heart thumping solidly. "In here."


End file.
